Sick pups from Kentucky prompt state penalties against 'rescuer'

After violating state regulations by rescuing six puppies from Kentucky, canine lover Bari Weiss is facing $2,000 in state fines and may be forced by the town to give up some of her own dogs.

Weiss says she unknowingly violated state Department of Agricultural Resources regulations in December by importing six puppies into Massachusetts without the proper health certifications or state approval.

Two of the puppies died from canine parvovirus, a highly contagious disease that is common among unvaccinated puppies, according to the American Medical Veterinary Association.

Last year the department ordered Pawsafe Animal Rescue, a volunteer organization that provided puppies to the Holliston Meadows Pet Resort, to stop importing and selling dogs after two puppies it rescued from the South died from parvovirus.

"I thought I was just helping some pups in need and I just didn't know," said Weiss, who responded to a mass e-mail from a Kentucky dog rescue agency.

The agency's e-mail asked that someone adopt several dogs in order to make room for another group of dogs that police had saved from being shot by their owner, Weiss said.

"There were two pairs of (three) siblings and I didn't know how to split them up, so I just said send them all," said Weiss, who has four dogs of her own.

State regulations require dogs entering the state to have health certificates from their state of origin, or that the local animal inspector be notified immediately if they do not.

Weiss is being fined for breaking those rules and ignoring an order to keep the puppies on her property, said Lisa Capone, spokeswoman for the Executive Environment and Energy Office.

But Weiss, who has requested a hearing to challenge the fines, said she had already given one of the puppies away and sent two others back to Kentucky when she received the notice in early February.

The Framingham Board of Health had also amended Weiss' kennel permit, which the town requires anyone with more than three dogs to have.

The new permit allowed her to have five dogs, including one of the puppies.

But after learning of the state violation, chairman Nelson Goldin said the board will consider revoking Weiss' permit at a meeting on March 20.

If the board revokes her permit, Weiss may only be allowed to keep three of her five dogs.

Lindsey Parietti can be reached at lindsey.parietti@cnc.com. MetroWest Daily News